1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a loose-leaf binder of a type in which binder rings are elastically opened and closed by actuating members, and more particularly, it relates to a loose-leaf binder with a lock to eliminate an accidental detachment of leaves owing to unintentional opening of binder rings during transportation, exhibition and storage.
2. Prior Art
Quite frequently, experienced are accidents of dislodgement of leaves of loose-leaf binders due to unintentional opening of binder rings caused by vibration or shock exerted in operation for transportation, reshipment, exhibition, storage or the like. In order to eliminate such an accident, the inventors of the present application have proposed a loose-leaf binder with locking means in Japanese Patent Publication No. 88,680/1993. Describing briefly, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 the disclosed loose-leaf binder includes a first and a second base plate 1 and 2 abutting against each other on their inner sides and each having a plurality of semicircular binder rings 3 and 4 adapted to abut against each other, an elastic metal sheath 7 restraining outer edges of both the base plates 1 and 2 to permit the binder rings 3 and 4 to open and close by elastic upward and downward movements of the base plates 1 and 2, and a first and a second actuating member 10 and 11 each mounted at one end of the base plate 1 and 2 to intersect each other and having a finger hooking portion 17 and 16. The first actuating member 10 fixed to the first base plate 1 includes an engaging projection 15, while the second actuating member 11 is pivotally connected to a shaft 14 at the corner of the lower end of the second base plate 2 and has an engaging portion 18′ which can be engaged with and released from the engaging projection 15 by the pivotal movement of the second actuating member 11 in its locking and unlocking directions, respectively.
In the loose-leaf binder with the lock, after both the binder rings have been closed in opposite directions by fingers, the second actuating member 11 is pivotally moved from a state of FIG. 4 to a state of FIG. 1 to engage the engaging projection 15 with the engaging portion. Under this condition, there is not any risk that the binder rings unintentionally open and the leaves are dislodged therefrom owing to vibration or shock exerted in operations such as transportation, reshipment or exhibition of the loose-leaf binders in which the leaves are bound. On the other hand, when some bound leaves are replaced with others or another handling is done, the finger hooking portions 16 and 17 of both the actuating members 10 and 11 are pushed in opposite directions by fingers to move both the base plates 1 and 2 from their lower positions to their upper positions, whereby the engaging portion 18′ can be disengaged from the engaging projection 15 only by a push operation with the fingers when the binder rings 3 and 4 are opened. Therefore, the above binder is excellent in operability.